Apr 7 LIVE REVIEW: No such thing as Inside Voices with Mallrat

As The Rosemount uncharacteristically filled up on a Thursday night, excitement was in the air for a show that definitely delivered. It started big, with Kota Banks hitting the stage and joining in on the great spearmint milk debate, by trying some for the first time on stage, much to the crowd’s delight. Her stage outfit was incredible, and her songs seemed fit for a festival.

Basenji was the next support, and he opened with a remixed Jeff Buckley track, which seemed like an odd opening track for a DJ set, although this set the vibe for what he would play, as he took a more chilled out approach, which, unfortunately, didn’t work well with what the crowd were wanting or expecting. Sadly, Basenji failed to be engaging until his last two tracks where he played ‘Mistakes’, his collaboration with Tkay Maidza, and crowd favourite ‘Petals’, but he did have some pretty rainbow lights throughout his set that I would love to see again.

The Rosemount was packed to the brim when Mallrat’s sidekick, DJ Denim took to the stage with her intro track, she mixed this with the very popular ‘7 Rings’ and showed off her stuff before the angel herself, Mallrat, emerged and launched into ‘Tokyo Drift’.From the get go the crowd were loud and knew every word, clearly surprising the duo on stage. Fans were not holding back, and there were no inside voices to be heard.

‘For Real’ followed, which included some brilliant pink lighting that continued throughout the set. The crowd stayed loud through ‘Sunglasses’, ‘Texas’ and, of course, ‘Inside Voices’, which appeared to be a clear fan favourite.

Mallrat then played what she called, her favourite but least popular track, ‘Make Time’, and the crowd still sang it back to her, possibly trying to disprove her ‘least popular’ theory. She then brought out guest Tyne-James Organ for a cover of gal of the moment, Billie Eilish’s bellyache, before following with Better and UFO which featured a beautiful acoustic intro played by Organ.

The crowd continued singing along to every word, with most even attempting the Japanese in ‘Bunny Island’, which is Mallrat’s collaboration with Oh Boy and Donatachi, and sang her Hottest 100 hit Groceries the loudest of all the tracks that night.

The tour’s namesake, ‘Nobody’s Home’ was a highlight of the night and was followed by the final track, ‘Uninvited’ which got the whole room jumping. Mallrat had barely left the stage before the screams for an encore started, despite her already stating that she had no songs left. She reappeared anyway with Tyne-James Organ for an acoustic cover of Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’. It was really wonderful to see such a genuine encore for once, as it was clearly unplanned, and solely based on the crowd’s desire for more, rather than a hit song being saved up for a ‘big finish’.

La Dispute are about to embark on a huge Australian tour that will see them play 15 shows all across the country. The tour will kick off here in WA, with successive shows at Amplifier Bar in Perth and the Newport Hotel in Fremantle on the 5th and 6th of September respectively. We were lucky enough to talk on the phone to drummer and founding member Brad Vander Lugt ahead of these shows. (Banner image by Micala Renee)